I Wish
by Sophia the Scribe
Summary: How much I wish to experience the stories I read, to live the lives of these characters I love! A poem. (Updated: now with more couplets!)
1. I Wish

Disclaimer: I take credit for nothing except my expressions. The rest belongs to an assortment of owners, living and dead, including but not limited to Lewis, Tolkien, Flanagan, Marvel, Austen, Homer, Orczy, Wilder, Pyle, Scott, Rowling, DC, Malory, Lucasfilm, Rowling, Sayers, Stewart, Disney, and Tennyson.

Update: I continue adding more couplets. That's the great thing about this poem: it's alterable!

-additions or changes made on-

3/15/16

4/10/16

5/13/16

7/25/17

12/3/17

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 **I Wish…**

by Sophia the Scribe

* * *

I wish I could see Aslan crown the Pevensies on that day,  
Could watch the Ring destroyed and Middle-earth battle in the fray,

Could see Halt's rangers shoot, or with Eärendil sail the seas,  
Or read the Scriptures and, in reading, live their histories.

Amid the world's destruction watch and cheer Avengers on,  
Amid her English life with Elinor Dashwood get along.

I'd with Odysseus sail, in France would watch Sir Percy's back,  
With Hector Horse-tamer mourn ruin of Troy and city's sack.

I'd Fabius Maximus join in plotting Roman victory,  
With Armstrong walk the moon, move West with Ingalls family,

See arrow split by Robin, Ivanhoe's great trial fight,  
With Peter Parker crawl the walls of New York City's night.

Sir Percivale I'd join to fight temptation's thoughts impure,  
With Luke I'd blast the Death Star and resist the Dark Side's lure,

Be she who learns at Euclid's feet or Hogwarts School attends,  
In Houston solve the problems that Apollo Thirteen sends.

I'd hear great Chiron's wisdom and to Finrod's measure it,  
I'd face the Alamo's fall, investigate with Wimsey's wit.

With Aravis I'd flee, help Reynie Muldoon problem-solve,  
Praise Obi-Wan's Soresu as he fights with calm resolve.

For Balder's death I'd weep, with Spartans hold Thermopylae,  
Mulan I'd help disguise to fight and save her family.

I'd Alfred's Saxons join to drive the Northmen from the land;  
On Gotham City's peak with Batman sentinel I'd stand.

At Roonwit's side I'd kneel, with Lewis and Clark explore the West,  
With Colonel Joshua Chamberlain fight yet mourn the day's unrest.

St. George see kill his dragon, Perseus commence his fights,  
I'd cheer the strength and justice of King Arthur and his knights.

But though I cannot live within these stories that I know,  
I'll love them for their goodness, beauty, and the truth they show.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading.


	2. Reference Explanations

**Reference Explanations**

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Expecting a poem you probably were; I apologize for this instead,  
But in case you care here's explanations of the first chapter's poem you read.

:)

* * *

Aslan crowning the Pevensies: C. S. Lewis's _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_ ; after the defeat of the Witch and the end of the Winter, Aslan, the Great Lion, crowns Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie as Kings and Queens under Him in Narnia.

Middle-earth's battle and the Ring's destruction: J. R. R. Tolkien's _Lord of the Rings_ ; the One Ring is destroyed, the Dark Lord thrown down, and the Free Peoples of Middle-earth hold the field.

Halt's rangers: John Flanagan's _Ranger's Apprentice_ series (technically it should be "Crowley's rangers" or even "Duncan's rangers," but I thought Halt was more recognizable and distinctive). They protect and serve the kingdom.

Eärendil: Tolkien's _Silmarillion_ ; Eärendil saves Middle-earth by sailing to the Blessed Realm to beg the Powers to lift their doom and help the Elves and Men against the Dark Lord; now he sails the sky as the Evening Star.

Scriptures: All of them. Except perhaps Judah and Tamar. And Lot and his daughters. And Jehu (right, Miss Natasha Rostova?).

Avengers saving the world: Marvel's Cinematic Universe, specifically, since I haven't read the comics. (Side note: how many times now has the world almost been destroyed? I've lost count…)

Elinor Dashwood's English life: Jane Austen's _Sense and Sensibility_ ; Elinor vies with Anne Elliot of _Persuasion_ as the Austen Novel Heroine to whom I can most relate.

Odysseus: Homer's _Odyssey_. The poor guy just couldn't get home.

Sir Percy in France: Baroness Orczy's _Scarlet Pimpernel_ , or even more so the 1982 Anthony Andrews movie. He rescues French aristocrats from the guillotine during the Reign of Terror.

Hector and the ruin of Troy: Homer's _Iliad_ , etc. Technically he was dead before the city fell, but he would've mourned it, at any rate. And I'm pretty sure he knew it was doomed from the start.

Fabius Maximus plotting Roman victory: Recorded in Livy, Quintus Fabius Maximus was a Roman general during the Second Punic War fighting against Hannibal. His defensive maneuvers and tactical retreats were brilliant but underappreciated in his own time.

Armstrong walking the moon: Neil Armstrong was the first man to step onto the moon on July 20, 1969.

Ingalls family: Laura Ingalls Wilder's _Little House_ series. They move west.

Robin splitting an arrow: Robin Hood legends, and the 1938 Errol Flynn movie.

Ivanhoe's fight: Sir Walter Scott's _Ivanhoe_ , and the 1982 Anthony Andrews movie. Calling the fight "great" might be laughable, since Ivanhoe was barely recovered from a wound to even participate, but he saved Rebecca's life despite that.

Peter Parker: aka Spider Man, specifically in the Tobey Maguire movies, or, more recently, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Sir Percivale fighting temptation: King Arthur legends, specifically from Sir Thomas Malory's _Le Morte d'Artur_. He has to resist the advances of a sorceress while on the Quest of the Holy Grail.

Luke's death-star-blasting and dark-side-resisting: Luke Skywalker, _Star Wars_ the Original Trilogy.

Euclid: Ancient Greek mathematician and the Father of Geometry.

Hogwarts School: of Witchcraft and Wizardry, from J. K. Rowling's _Harry Potter_ series, as I expect you already knew.

Houston and Apollo 13: Often referred to as NASA's "successful failure," the mission was unable to land on the moon but the combined skills of the astronauts themselves and the engineers back at Mission Control in Houston brought them home safely. I'm especially thinking of the 1995 Tom Hanks movie. (Origin of the phrase "Houston, we have a problem.")

Captain Sully and the Hudson: On January 15, 2009 Captain Chesley Sullenberger successfully landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River after a double-engine loss due to bird strike. The story was most recently brought to my attention by the 2016 Clint Eastwood-directed Tom Hanks film _Sully_.

Valjean and Javert: From _Les Miserables_ , particularly the Broadway musical or 2012 musical drama film. (I haven't read Hugo's original novel, but my sister Miss Natasha did and assured me that everything in the movie happened in the book—there's just more in the book.) In any case, Valjean is redeemed through mercy, and, in the spirit of this mercy, spares the life of Javert, his pursuer.

Chiron: He was a (the only…) good Centaur of Greek mythology. Known for his wisdom, he taught such illustrious figures as Achilles, Theseus, and Perseus.

Finrod: Tolkien's _Silmarillion_ ; King Finrod Felagund of Nargothrond was the wisest, fairest, and most beloved of the High Elves in Middle-earth (incidentally, also Galadriel's brother).

The Alamo's fall: It fell in 1836, defended by James Bowie and Davy Crockett fighting for Texas independence.

Wimsey's wit: Lord Peter Wimsey of Dorothy Sayers's detective novels.

Aravis fleeing: Lewis's _The Horse and His Boy_ ; she flees wicked Calormen, comes to Narnia, and learns of Aslan.

Reynie Muldoon's problem-solving: Trenton Lee Stewart's _The Mysterious Benedict Society_ ; Reynie is the unofficial leader of the society and very good at solving riddles and coming up with plans.

Obi-Wan's Soresu: Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi of the _Star Wars_ Prequel Trilogy; according to Extraneous Material That I Have Not Read And Thus Only Know Second-Hand, Soresu is the all-defensive form of lightsaber combat that Obi-Wan takes up (and becomes the master of) after his master Qui-Gon Jinn's death.

Balder's death: In Norse mythology Balder, the god of forgiveness, light, and justice, is killed by Loki's treachery. Hel, the goddess of death, agrees to return him to life only if everything in all the realms weeps for his death. Loki doesn't and so denies Balder his resurrection.

Spartans at Thermopylae: The Spartans (and some oft-forgotten Thespians and Thebans) held off the Persian forces long enough for the rest of Greece to organize its defense.

Mulan saving her family: Any of the legends, or the Disney movie. She goes to war so her elderly father won't die on the battlefields.

Roonwit: Lewis's _The Last Battle_ ; Roonwit is a centaur who dies for king and country. (Final quote: "All worlds draw to an end, and a noble death is a treasure that no one is too poor to buy.")

Lewis and Clark: The great expedition through the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean. I came to appreciate it fully through Steven Ambrose's _Undaunted Courage_.

Colonel Joshua Chamberlain: Held the far left of the Union line in the Battle of Gettysburg and secured that victory. He always led from the front and was several times wounded, was Grant's first ever field promotion (to General) and saluted the defeated Confederate forces when he received their arms and colors after the surrender.

St. George's dragon: He killed it, freed the city, and rescued the princess.

Perseus' fights: He had a lot of them, including killing Medusa and rescuing Andromeda.

King Arthur and his knights: Specifically as described in Alfred Lord Tennyson's _Idylls of the King_.

Truth, goodness, and beauty: The three "absolutes" in the world, and gifts of God.


End file.
